Pete Sepp, National Taxpayers Union, (703) 683 5700, pressguy@ntu.org
Dan Smith, U.S. PIRG, (202) 546 9707, DSmith@pirg.org
WASHINGTON - Asthe Congressional “Super Committee” begins its search for $1.5 trillion indeficit reduction, a new study released today by the U.S. Public InterestResearch Group (U.S. PIRG) and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) provides thepanel with a great place to start: more than $1 trillion of spending cuts withappeal from across the political spectrum.
While the twogroups have widely divergent views on many tax and fiscal issues, they havejoined forces to identify federal programs that both Republican and Democraticlawmakers should recognize as wasteful and inefficient uses of taxpayer dollars.
The U.S. PIRGand NTU study identifies 54 specific cuts in federal spending,including:
- $214.9 billion in savings from eliminating wasteful subsidies to agribusiness and other corporations
- $428.8 billion in savings from ending low-priority or unnecessary military programs
- $232.3 billion in savings from improvements to program execution and government operations
- $132.1 billion in savings from reforms to major entitlement programs
Co-author Andrew Moylan, Vice Presidentof Government Affairs for the National Taxpayers Union, added, “Though it getsdrowned out by the din of Washington’s partisan rancor, there is actually alarge amount of agreement between watchdog groups both right and left aboutwhere the waste is in the budget. We hope this report can aid the Super Committeein the difficult task of repairing the federal balance sheet by giving themsuggestions with widespread support.”
“Inan effort to address the deficit, we too often forget to differentiate betweenthe good and the bad; between public priorities and special interest handouts,”said co-author Dan Smith, U.S. PIRG Tax and Budget Associate. “Theserecommendations correct years of insider lobbying that has benefited narrowinterests allowing room either for investment in valued programs or deficitreduction.”
The report updates and builds onrecommendations developed last year for the President’s fiscal commission. Thefiscal commission adopted 20 of 30 recommendations in the bipartisan majorityreport.
Theorganizations plan to send their findings tothe Super Committee which has until Thanksgiving to propose $1.2-$1.5 trillionin deficit reduction for a vote in the full Congress.
Click here for a copy ofthe report.
U.S.PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, is anon-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization. Follow us onTwitter.
TheNational TaxpayersUnion (NTU)is America's independent, non-partisan advocate for overburdened taxpayers. Follow us on Twitter.